


On Flightless Wings

by abysmalTrepidation



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Angelstuck, Future chapters may get intense, Gen, Multi, Violence, Wing torture, many characters mentioned as dead
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-03
Updated: 2014-05-03
Packaged: 2018-01-21 17:52:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1558943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abysmalTrepidation/pseuds/abysmalTrepidation
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Your name is Karkat Vantas, and you're an angel who's been exiled to Hell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Are you scared, child?"

My name is Karkat Vantas and yes, I am scared, terrified. I don't want to look up and the one speaking, but fear compels me. As I tilt my head up, the haunting sight of that plague doctor mask, hidden in a black robe fills my vision. The pearly white mask is such a stark contrast, not to mention the bright crimson blood on the beak. My blood.

The handcuffs bite into my wrists, my arms tugged painfully behind my back. They didn't bother to tie my wings up; they broke them, so I couldn't fly even if I wanted to. And I do, badly.

"You were very bad, child," the voice says, muffled and distant. The figure has no expression, no emotion in their words. "We overlooked your blood mutation, tolerated your hideous black wings, the wings of a raven. We tolerated your anger, no matter how many times it has gotten you into trouble. But child, you have gone too far. This time you have killed. There are no more chances left for you."

Panic floods through me as I hear the voice's hollow words. No more chances. I was playing a game that was rigged from the start, a game I should have ended a long time ago. The game of life is cruel to everyone and especially those who don't deserve to be hurt.

Without thinking, I start talking, shouting. "No! It wasn't my fault, you don't understand. It was an accident! I would never – "

For my thoughtless action I get a hard punch in the face. I stumble slightly, only to feel a hard shove from behind that sends me kneeling before the masked figure. "You brought this on yourself. You couldn't control your rage, and it's no one's fault but yours. You are simply an unholy mutant, not worthy of staying here with the other angels."

The flat tone has suddenly broken into disgust. Scolding, disappointed. If it wasn't as obvious as the punch in my face already, I now truly know that I have fucked up. There's no going back, no way to fix this.

"You're a threat to everyone around you," the voice spits like venom. "You're lower than low.  _Black_ angel wings? We should have exiled you when you were born. No matter. We get to do that now."

Exile. Exiled to where? Straight down to Hell, thrown out of Heaven and their holy morals. I open my mouth, but think better of it. I look down and shake my head. My mind's too cluttered with pain and fear and hatred to think logically.

Suddenly I can feel a pressure being applied to my wings. No. No, no no. I suddenly remember hearing that this is what they do. They cut off your wings and throw you into the portal to Hell, full of it's heinous demons.

Before I have time to react, I hear a loud popping and cracking noise. I have just enough time to comprehend that they actually ripped my wings off instead of cutting them. Then the searing pain kicks in and darkness begins to creep in on my vision. I can't even tell if I'm screaming, the agony is blocking out much of the noise.

There is one noise I can pick out as the shadows finish crowding in, however. "Angel Karkat Vantas has been exiled. He will not be missed."

* * *

 

As I wake up, I realize that I have no idea where the fuck I am. Not only because I can barely see through my blurred vision, but there seems to be a thick, dark fog wafting about the air. From what I'm able to tell, it looks like I've been thrown into a dark forest, with odd blue-green grass and black trees without any leaves. The sky is pitch black, save for a lonely moon. It sends chills up my spine.

I stand up and immediately regret my decision. Pain jolts all over my body, forcing me to sit back down with a tortured groan. "Fuck..." I whimper as I remember what happened. Just as the pain fades, I reach a hand out behind my back. The emptiness my fingers are met with leaves me cold inside. My wings, no matter how much of a bad omen they were, are truly gone.

On the slightly more positive side, it doesn't seem like I'm wearing the torn sweater that I was previously. Which means that I'm not alone, someone else had to have done this.

I'm now on high alert. Someone's been watching me this whole time. Naturally I should've been able to tell, if it wasn't for my unfortunate state. To my left I can hear a quick movement, a hushed whisper. Quiet, but not quiet enough. I spin around, narrowing my eyes. "Who the hell is there?" I snap, furious. I'm chock full of anger and I could really use something to take it out on.

Now I can see the one who was watching me, stepping through the fog. It's a girl, presumably no older than me, but I can instantly tell she's a demon. Two large, bat-like wings are half folded behind her back, and a long tail tipped with black fur curls to the side. "Please," she says, a note of concern in her voice that I didn't expect. "Calm down. You don't need to worry."

"Don't need to worry?" Now that's a laugh. "I've just had one hell of a shitty day, worse than you could probably imagine, and now I'm stuck here in wherever-the-fuck. Oh, not to mention that some ridiculous looking demon in a dress showed up for who knows!" I cast a scathing glare in her general direction.

The demon nods, daring to take a step closer. "I understand. This all must be very confusing for you. However, there really is no reason to get so worked up; I have no intention of harming you, or letting anyone else do so." A sort of half-smile crossed her face, which I assume is supposed to be meant reassuringly. I'm completely unconvinced.

"If that's the case, what _are_ your intentions? Something along the lines of telling me where I am and who you are?" I ask, eyes narrowed.

She nods, lips now a full smile. "Of course. I am Kanaya Maryam, welcome to Hell,"

I stare blankly at her, then the realization kicks in. Duh! The whole banishment thing, I feel like an idiot for not remembering. That's the penalty for blacking out, I suppose.

The demon – rather, Kanaya – chimes in again. "I instantly picked you out as a Fallen Angel. You all just have that special air about you." she says, ending the sentence with a mysterious tone.

"Oh really?" I scoff. "Sure you didn't just find me because I'm probably the only one with signs of having their wings ripped off?"

Kanya nods, chuckling. "There's that too. I was just worried about you. It's not every day we see a Fallen Angel down here, and when I do, I make it top priority to help them stay alive. The alternate would just be wrong." She stands taller, definitely feeling proud of herself.

"Yeah, great, you fix exiles. Good for you." I sigh and slowly stand up, groaning in pain at the effort. "Look Kanaya, this forest is just great and all, but is there anywhere... I don't know, less fucking creepy?" Looking around, I notice the fog getting darker, and I can see bright eyes glowing different colors in all directions. The hair on the back of my neck instantly stands up.

"Yes, in fact there is," she replies happily. "My hive that I share with my matesprit, Rose, is nearby. It isn't too far, but you should be able to loosen up you stiffness a bit on our way there."

I stare at her a moment, then sigh. "I'm a fucking nook-sniffing idiot for deciding to go with you, but lead the way," As we start the painful and uncomfortable walk, I already regret all of my future actions before I even do them.


	2. Chapter 2

We've been walking for what feels like hours, and Kanaya hasn't shut up since. I'm sure she thinks she's just being friendly, but it's starting to piss me off. By now I don't even know what she's talking about; she jumped from something about roses to something about drinking rainbows.

"Kanaya," I growl, cutting my eyes at her. "You said this wouldn't take long. Why have we been out here for years, with the only fucking noise your incessant rambling?" I suppose I'm being a bit rude, but this is getting ridiculous!

She pauses, blushing slightly out of embarrassment. "Well, to tell you the honest truth, we've been taking the longer route." She giggles nervously.

"What?" Is she out of her mind? Does she not realize how much it hurts to be doing anything right now? I'm officially convinced that she's a demon; only a demon would force me to go through this ear-numbing journey of a million steps.

"I apologize, really. I was taking the longer way because I just wanted to talk to you." She offers a tiny smile, revealing more of her extended fangs. "I know that all of this must be very hard for you to wrap your head around. I was hoping that maybe a little conversation would help you relax." She looks genuinely apologetic, which wasn't what I expected a demon to feel. Even though she could be faking it, I somehow doubt it.

My gaze softens. "Whatever. All that really matters is how quickly we'll get to your hive."

We walk silently for a while. I'm still cautious of her, and I still wouldn't put it past her to suddenly slit my throat, but I'm calmer than I was before. For now, she's not trying to do anything. At least until a worried look crosses her face. I notice but decide not to say anything. She's biting her lip, the fangs causing jade blood to come up.

"The fuck's the matter with you?" I ask, my eyes darting around. Whatever's worrying her is probably not going to be good for me at all.

Kanaya forces a tight smile and a nervous laugh. "It's nothing. Sometimes the forest can seem a bit... off, but nothing's wrong..." Her words trail off. I can hear her breathing race into a panicking wheeze. "Just, be quiet. I know you're still probably in pain, but we need to hurry up the pace a bit, alright?" She's doing a piss poor job and concealing her fear.

Oh God, this can't be good. I'm now running to keep up with her. "Why? What the hell is wrong?"

"For me, nothing," she responds, trying to stay calm. "For you, I don't think you'd be exactly safe. There are very few demons here who will accept an angel with open arms." She eyes me carefully. "Especially one who did something so _horrible_ that they literally got kicked out of heaven. Whatever that thing that you did was."

Jesus, why can't she give me a straight answer? As soon as I open my mouth to shout something at her, I hear a low, threatening growl behind us. Oh fuck. I spin around and I'm instantly staring into two glaring eyes, glowing with disgust. One of them is red; the other is blue, and both have electric bolts fizzing around them.

I'm truly speechless – and probably about to piss myself – as the demon towers over me, unfurling two pairs of batlike wings. Now that I notice the double pairs, I also notice double tails and two sets of horns. Funny how you notice these things as you feel death becoming closer.

The demon snarls, fangs fully bared. "Who. The fuck. Ith thith?"

Wait. Did he seriously just... lisp? Against my better judgement and survival instincts, I giggle a little, a smirk spreading across my face. It doesn't matter how terrifying this demon might be; that lisp is a hilarious contradiction to the whole "big scary monster" style. My laughter easily vanishes as I feel myself be lifted eye-level with the demon. He's not touching me; probably using psiionics or something.

"Are you theriously laughing at me? Don't even do that, I'll fucking thlaughter you, puritht piethe of shit." As he finishes speaking, he slams me back onto the ground with his psiionics, growling over me. "Think it'th funny now athhole?"

I just glare up at him, making the rational choice of not flipping my shit. That would be a horrible experience for everyone involved, especially me. However, I'm not past taunting. "Heh, it's kind of hard to take anything you say seriously when you sound like such a dumbass nerd." I sneer, then instantly wish I hadn't done that.

The demon lets out a hideous snarl, bordering on a roar, but before he can get up to do anything, he's kicked down to the ground, face first. " _Sollux_ ," Kanaya's growl is colder than ice. "I would highly recommend, for your safety, that you stop. It isn't necessary to try and murder every angel you come across. So for once in your life, put away that mostly self-directed loathing and _leave him alone_."

I blink, my mouth hanging open. I don't know why I'm surprised at how intimidating Kanaya can be, but it seriously catches me off guard. Her face quickly reverts back to it's calmed kindness, and she turns to me. "Are you alright?" she asks, pulling me up and checking for injuries. It's quite impressive how quickly she can go from vicious beast to worried mama bird in less than a minute.

"I'm fine, honestly," I assure her, taking a step back. She's just a little too close. "Although, I do want to know who that asshole is." I point over to the demon she addressed as Sollux. He's now standing up, looking much less enraged than he did earlier.

He sighs, suddenly seeming tired and exhausted. His wings sag and his tail droops as he starts speaking. "I'm Thollux Captor. Thorry for trying to kick your ath, I jutht really can't thtand you thupid angelth. I don't think I can expreth enough how much I hate your thpethieth." His pupiless eyes are unreadable and don't reveal any emotion, and it makes it hard for me to tell if he's being sincere.

"It's not okay, but just don't do it again and I can probably hate you less." I say, not believing it for a second.

"I thee," he responds carefully. "And, uh, thorry for going inthane and then now being chill, thith kind of thing happenth a lot and it kind of thuckth." Oh, well isn't emotional instability just perfect?

Kanaya, however, seems overjoyed at our little kiss-and-make-up. She smiled brightly. "See? We may be getting somewhere. Now, Karkat, we may have to do a little bit more walking, but we're much closer to our destination. Sollux?" She turns to him, eyebrows raised. "Would you care to come with us?"

He rolls his eyes. "Your hive ith tho creepy, even with all of your obthethive fashionithta crap. But I gueth, if it meanth you won't athk later."

She grins wider, and is she... glowing? I'll have to file that under the list of important things to ask later. Because right now, I don't thinking questioning it is really necessary.

Either way, our party now has a batshit demon with apparent mood swings, and double the animosity.


End file.
